The shorter the telomere the faster we age. The longer the telomere the slower we age.

Let’s look at the science of it so you don’t think I’ve completely lost my mind.

The Science of Telomeres

Not to revisit fifth grade science class but a refresher may be in order.

Chromosomes are thread-like structures that are made up of proteins and nucleic acid which carry our DNA, or genetic information. These DNA threads are tightly wound over each other.

Each and every healthy cell in your body, with the exception of our reproductive cells, contain an exact copy of our DNA.

The cell division and duplication (or regeneration) process is what keeps everything in shipshape working order. If our cells fail to make an exact copy of themselves those abnormal cells accumulate and wreak havoc in our body.

Cell Division (isn’t our body amazing?)

When we don’t have enough healthy cells to replace the dead or damaged ones, our body starts deteriorating, our skin starts to sag because we don’t have new cells to replace our collagen, our hair turns grey because we don’t have cells to replace the pigment…

Heart disease, cancer, sanity, saggy boobs, everything in our physical body comes down to the length of our cells. If our telomeres aren’t there to keep them in line, aging starts to happen.

(this is a time when length does matter) 😉

The Telomeres Role in Anti-aging

Our telomeres are kind of like little gatekeepers that regulate the rate at which our cells divide and replicate as well as parse out our DNA evenly (metaphor #2).

How to Stengthen and Lengthen Your Telomeres

Telomerese

A key player in telomere longevity is an enzyme called telomerase. This anti-aging enzyme is continuously active in the embryonic stem cells that we had in the womb, but in the rest of our cells, this fountain-of-youth enzyme, lies dormant most of the time.

Telomerase both protects our telomeres and produces more. So why not just get some more telomerase, right?

Actually, scientists have tried it and it works – in mice. By introducing telomerase into the systems of mice, old mousies got younger looking and healthier. It’s been tested on humans too.

There have been clinical studies on human subjects where the telomerase enzyme was injected into cells with shortened telomeres, and the telomere length of these cells increased.

BUT, an excess of telomerase beyond what we can get our body to produce on our own, can accumulate and become cancer. Ironic, huh? (I sense an Alanis song here).

Don’t be a momo and go buying telomerase pills or some other nonsense. It can only hurt, not help (some scientists say it can perpetuate cancer).

Currently, the only ways that we know to promote the production of telomerase in our body are our lifestyle choices. (oh, that again!)

If your first reaction was ‘well then, I’m screwed’ then we should hangout. Kidding (mostly). But I will say that it’s not too late to reverse the shortening of your telomeres and honestly, the lifestyle choices we’re talking about aren’t as dire as you’d think.

(I’ll tell you how to find out your telomere age in a second!)

Exercise

Exercise promotes the replenishing process of telomerase. But, you don’t have to go all batshit crazy about it. Studies have shown that there are two types of exercise that work better than others.

So, living a sedentary life, wolfing down potato chips and Anti-AGin vodka is super bad for your telomeres. No surprise. But there’s actually something that can be far worse than all of that, stress.

Adjust Your Stress Response

Stress, or actually the way you react to stressful situations, is a common way to deteriorate our telomeres. (I’m surprised I’m not on a ventilator)

A study comparing caregivers vs non-caregivers found that the caregivers, people caring for someone with a long term illness (such as a their child, parent or spouse), had shorter telomeres than the ones who didn’t.